- Web sites that don't tag their articles with a date. I'd really like to know if the information I'm reading is current, or from 2 years ago!

- The current state of desktop GUIs. Windows 8 is a clumsy compromise between tablet and desktop; Unity is a step (albeit a lesser one) in the same direction as Windows 8; GNOME Foundation has ditched the mature, functional, and flexible GNOME 2 for the half-baked, "we know what's best for you... trust us!" GNOME 3; and KDE seems more interested in providing cutesy bells and whistles than in addressing significant usability issues and bugs.

- Owning old cars. I think we're approaching the crossover point where the cost of repairs will exceed what it would cost for new car payments.

- Property taxes (and the rise thereof).

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

- Owning old cars. I think we're approaching the crossover point where the cost of repairs will exceed what it would cost for new car payments.

I have recently thought about this. And it looks like as time moves forward and as cars are getting more and more computerized/ complicated the cost will crossover and then only few mechanics with the right tools can fix it. e.g. the dealerships. Thus keeping you in a perpetual car note cycle. I guess thats why leasing is so popular.

I also tend to think that there are a lot of people who settle on this perpetual payment cycle and think of it as any other monthly bill. I guess the real question is, "Are cars assets once paid off?". To me there are only a handful of cars that would be considered assets, most of them sports cars.

(\_/) (O.o)(''')(''') Watch out for evil Terra-Tron; He Does not like you!

- Owning old cars. I think we're approaching the crossover point where the cost of repairs will exceed what it would cost for new car payments.

My dad finally hit the point of (a) I'm too old to be spending every weekend in the garage and (b) I've saved up enough money, it's time to spend some of it again. Within 18 months, two 15-20yo cars were replaced with two new Toyotas.

So, assuming people drive 12k a year, which is the assumption most leases are based on.

First year costs are roughly $100 bucks if you throw in a pair of wiper blades.Second year, roughly the same.Third year you're probably near $450Fourth year you're back down to around S100Fifth year is going to be rough You have a 60k, brakes, and a set of tires. You're likely going to be spending $1600+Sixth year, you're back to $100 again.Seventh year, if you have a timing belt vehicle, you're going to be in for the 7 year 105k maintenace, probably putting you at $800, otherwise you're still at around $100Eighth year, you likely need brakes and tires, a little sooner due to added wear on the brake and suspension components, also 90k service, $1600+Ninth year, you're in for the 100k service if you didn't already do it at 7 years. So, either $800 or $100Tenth year, Yay you made it to 120k, $450Eleventh year, time for brakes and tires again, $1200Twelfth year, $100Thirteenth year, congrats, you hit 150k $450.

So, assuming you bought a reliable vehicle that doesn't really brake as long as you maintain it, you'll have 7k in maintenance costs over the 13 years, or roughly 500 a year, some years will be way more expensive than others, but over the long term its almost always more cost effective to keep a vehicle. Especially when compared to 500 a month for a new vehicle, it's not such a bad deal.

No, they're not assets, pretty much anything that rolls or floats depreciates too fast to really be an asset. Even sports cars, when you figure in how long you have to keep them to have a positive return on the investment it's a stretch.

There's always going to be *some* unexpected maintenance that comes up. Some minor, some more expensive. A battery here... new alternator there... a worn wheel bearing or two... maybe one of your power windows stops working unexpectedly. It adds up, especially when you're maintaining multiple older vehicles. (We currently have 3, ranging in age from 10 to 15.)

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

It's not really all that subjective. People like consumer reports do studies and release the information all the time, it's readily available for anyone purchasing a car. I work for Chrysler and repair them all day long, the only thing they produce that's even close to the reliability I demand is the Grand Cherokee, maybe once they figure out the issues with the pentastar engine I'll buy one. I personally own an 06 altima with 140k on it, the only thing that's been done to the vehicle is tires and 1 set of brake pads, plus oil changes. Try getting that same experience out of 90% of the cars produced and you'll be disappointed. From a reliability and cost of ownership standpoint generally each manufacturer has 1-2 models that are there, everything else is lacking. The problem is most people do little to no research before they step in the dealership. And end up driving off with a stylish expensive to own vehicle.

There's always going to be *some* unexpected maintenance that comes up. Some minor, some more expensive. A battery here... new alternator there... a worn wheel bearing or two... maybe one of your power windows stops working unexpectedly. It adds up, especially when you're maintaining multiple older vehicles. (We currently have 3, ranging in age from 10 to 15.)

That's true, let's assume your maintenance costs after 10 years double to 1k a year per car or even triple to 1500 a year, you're still a long way away from making a car payment and the related insurance costs with that number. But, at that age the body starts falling apart, especially where you're living, which is more fatal than mechanical failures.

Ugly design, just took off on me and installed over the top of Fedora 16 without giving me a chance to repartition or even tell me what it was going to do. At least I'm not stuck with Gnome 3. I did have a backup of my data. I make mistakes, but I don't make them twice.

Ugly design, just took off on me and installed over the top of Fedora 16 without giving me a chance to repartition or even tell me what it was going to do. At least I'm not stuck with Gnome 3. I did have a backup of my data. I make mistakes, but I don't make them twice.

i can't stand how the new thing for some websites (cough, cough...newegg, amazon, and buy.com, etc...) is to require you to put an item into your cart and then credit card info and then almost complete your order so that you can view the final price of an item. then you have to cancel the order at the very final step or close out your shopping cart tab/browser...all for trying to find the best deal. it seems to be mostly for tvs but sometimes other stuff too. you can, of course, enter in fake credentials since you won't actually complete the order, but it ends up being 3-4 more steps to see a final price. try browsing through 20-30 tvs this way and it gets really old really quick. you basically have to write down the price and model number and make a spreadsheet to compare things properly. and i am not talking about the other more common "add to cart for price" on newegg that pops up a little box with the final price viewable in just one extra click. while annoying, it is not nearly as bad as the "checkout to see price" thing.

oh and that brings me to newegg's new smart search tool for searching through tvs. they have these sliders that you can choose options with and they suck. they reset constantly and don't remember selections between the different options from only seconds before. for example, go here for LED tvs...http://www.newegg.com/LED-TV/SubCategory/ID-798

on the left hand side, under "narrow results/advanced tab" use the resolution slider to select 1080p. then use the drop down menu above the listings and choose lowest price....it resets and doesn't remember your selection of 1080p from seconds before! what is the point of the stupid sliders then? the previous advanced search tab with all drop down menus worked perfectly and quickly so that you could drill down to your required options. the sliders suck and and are worthless!!! to top it off the sliders have been around for over a year now and they have always been useless. how they ever managed to make it past QA testing is beyond me. worse yet is that the sliders seem to be spreading to more component categories too...the motherboard category is still unblemished by them thankfully but who knows for how long.

My favourite rant at the moment is everyone making mobile devices thinner instead of longer-lasting.IF IT IS PHYSICALLY ATTACHED TO THE MAINS SOCKET IT ISN'T MOBILE ANYMORE!!!1

We've been happily carrying around chunky devices since the early 90's.It's great that they've become smaller and lighter, but some things make NO SENSE.

A 14" ultrabook - does it matter if it's 0.6" or 1" thick? I mean the dimension that gets in the way is the 14", not the extra 0.4". With a battery double the size, I could actually use it all day and avoid carrying around the messy, bulky, ugly AC adapter too. Did anyone think about that? No. Some marketing whiz decided that thin was sexy and marketable. To me, thin means "tiny battery, insufficient cooling, fragile, short key travel, all the ports and drives are missing". Thanks a bunch you w*nkers.

Phones. Seriously. My hands and fingers don't shrink. One day phones are going to be so thin that the battery life will be measured in minutes not hours, and they'll need to put "warning, sharp edge" stickers on them. It doesn't matter a damn to me if a phone is only 3/8" thick when the thing is otherwise a delicate, fragile 5" x 3" rectangle of flat-batteried weight in my pocket that also makes that pocket mutually exlusive with sharp, screen-scratchers like keys and coins. Make the damn things 5/8" thick and double my battery life, you stupid air-headed, form-before-function, irritating f*ckwit product designers.

I used to carry around THIS and THIS. Did I complain? Not about the size or weight, that's for sure.

Last edited by Chrispy_ on Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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I get through a whole weekend (off charge friday morning, usually home sunday evening) with my Galaxy SII (int'l) using extended, double capacity battery packs, but they are ugly as sin.

If the manufacturer designed them around a sensible capacity (3000mAH or so) they could definitely make a much better job of it than the aftermarket bolt-ons:

The difference between my double battery and the default battery is around 4mm so if Samsung wanted to, they could easily have released a 10mm-thick Galaxy SII with a 4-day runtime. Hell, parts of the SII are already nearly 10mm thick (camera lens & flash, speaker hump) Those almost unnoticable two or three milimeters is why the phone only lasts 36h even with a brand new battery

It didn't take long for my typical waking day (17-18h) to outlast the SII default battery. Stupidest idea ever.

I wonder how big my phone would have to be for a week-long battery. 13mm? 15mm? I'd buy one in a hearbeat. Somehow I coped with the inch-thick motorolas and nokias of a decade ago, and I'm pretty sure that among true first world problems, being ashamed of your phone's fatness is right up there at the top

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For years now, I've been happy with my HTPC using surround sound computer speakers with a VGA connection to my tv. I get to watch all my dvd's (which I have many, my collection is extensive), life is good.

Then I decided to upgrade so that my media computer, gaming computer and hd antenna all have the same sound source and my gaming computer can play on the tv (Grid 2/Awesomenauts).

I go out, buy a Yamana receiver (4 hdmi inputs), a nice sub-woofer and some good tower speakers. Hook it all up (via hdmi), put a dvd in and...the dvd won't play. What...the...

Oh yes, the media head honcho's have now decided (in their infinite wisdom) that my hundreds of dvd's are illegitimate to play. Something in my set-up isn't hdcp compatible and now I must be a pirate. I found a way around it (no more will be said as I don't want to violate forum rules), but that really really cheeses me off.

Whether it be wireless plans or the rash of NEWCUSTONLYFULOYALPATRONS06 coupon codes at that have cropped up recently on Newegg, WTF? Did the parents of those running their marketing departments never tell them about the good ol' days when companies actually rewarded loyal customers?

And speaking of lame Newegg promotional codes. It would be nice if they actually worked. I was advising a friend who was putting together his first gaming PC and hasn't really been much into PC hardware, etc. He didn't even have a Newegg account. He was looking for a video card. I tell him about the $30 off over $300 for Newegg Canada that is apparently currently going on right now. He makes an account, puts a $360 HD 7970 into his cart, enters the promo code and, does he get the HD 7970 for the awesome price of $330 as promised?

Well of course he doesn't, don't be ridiculous.

Customer service rep: "I'm sorry, you can't combine with any other promo codes. Because that video card comes with free games {FROM AMD, NOT NEWEGG!], you cannot use the $30 off promo code for this purchase..."

Listen. Either honor a promotion or don't have one to begin with. It's pretty simple unless you want to alienate new customers, rather than attract their business. Newegg and their lame promotional codes...

This. I've been with my bank for over 10 years (maybe close to 15) now and they keep giving away offers to new customers for $20 of free groceries with every sign-up (for you Canadians, I bank with PC financial). At the very least, give me $5 for being such a long standing customer. Some acknowledgement would be nice.

A minor issue is websites that reset preferences when you change one parameter.E.g. You have selected to sort by price and then change from say 4 to 8GB and they default back to another sort order.

In the same vein are websites that have an option called something like Best Results (Dell) or customer favourites that are the default settings.So useless and patronising.

On a slightly more serious note are websites which don’t have a working stock control system but still take payment upfront anyway.

The real jerks are those with a non functioning stock control system that take money immediately and don’t even bother to tell you that they have no intention of supplying your order or automatically refunding you.PCWorldBusiness UK are great at this and expect you to phone them on a relatively premium rate number just to get you money back.Next time it happens to me I’m just going to phone my credit card company directly.

All these are trivial compared to the real **** that is going on in the UK.This country has dramatically gone downhill in the last 10 years due to the ineptitudes of various governments of various flavours; they are all ****. Thank god I don’t look to them for answers.

This. I've been with my bank for over 10 years (maybe close to 15) now and they keep giving away offers to new customers for $20 of free groceries with every sign-up (for you Canadians, I bank with PC financial). At the very least, give me $5 for being such a long standing customer. Some acknowledgement would be nice.

Companies treat you like dirt, so be an unfaithful jerk and mess them around.THEY DESERVE IT.One day, they will learn, but don't be the silent sufferer that funds their asshat behaviour; defect and take the goodies, then defect and take more goodies.

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